North River Geographic Systems Inc

Geospatial Problem Solving

ga urisa

Georgia URISA March 2017 Luncheon

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Date: Tuesday March 14, 2017
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
 
Location:

Hexagon Geospatial
5051 Peachtree Corners Circle
Norcross, Georgia 30092

“Geospatial Data Management and State Clearinghouses”

Speaker: Bruce Chaplin, Vice-President Business Development – Americas, Hexagon Geospatial.Bruce Chaplin is a global executive with 25 years of experience developing creative solutions to geospatial, mapping, and location-based challenges. Bruce has worked for Hexagon for 15 years, in leadership roles in product development, product management, and business development. He is based in Norcross, GA.

Presentation Summary: Are you drowning in data? Do you see a deluge of more data coming? Are you under pressure to publish data to users, inside or outside your organization? Making relevant, high-quality geospatial data available to your community of users promotes data reuse, improves collaboration, and drives operational excellence. But, publishing geospatial data effectively and efficiently can be challenging, due to the sheer volume, diversity, and complexity of geospatial data. This presentation will present best practices for successfully publishing geospatial data, outline some of unique challenges that must be overcome, and showcase a success story from an organization that has setup a state-wide geospatial data clearinghouse.

Register at http://www.gaurisa.org

 

Georgia URISA Luncheon – February 2017

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Date: Tuesday February 14, 2017
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location:
Cherokee Run Golf Club
1595 Centennial Olympic Parkway
Conyers, Georgia 30013

Additional instructions: As you drive into the entrance of Cherokee Run it will put you into the main parking lot.  Come in the front door of the clubhouse and you will walk straight into the banquet room, it will be directly in front of you.  There is a French door to your left and one to your right that you can enter into.

“Using GIS to Make Cemetery Data Available to the Public”
Speaker: Donna Freeman began her GIS career in 2003 with the City of Covington. She served the citizens of Newton County for 4 years.  In January 2008, she started the development of the GIS system for the City of Conyers. Donna plays an instrumental role in the data collection, online mapping, and assisting the public and the city’s various departments with GIS data. Donna has an Associate’s Degree in Computer Programming from Gwinnett Technology College and bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix.

Presentation Summary: Cemeteries are an important part of a community’s history. Understanding the layout and having a record of each lot owner is very important. Using GIS technology to map each grave is an efficient way to have all the information right at your fingertips. Using online maps provides the community easy access for genealogy research making valued information available for all.

Go to https://www.gaurisa.org

 

GA URISA Luncheon – June 14th 2016

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“Georgia Tech Involvement and support of Mountain Gorilla Preservation with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI)”

Presenter: Nick Faust

Principal Research Scientist (retired)
Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Senior Resident Scholar – Georgia Tech Center for GIS
SPIE Fellow

Education:
MS Geophysics Georgia Institute of Technology 1975
BS Physics Georgia Institute of Technology 1969

Research Interests

Nick Faust has 50 years research experience in the development and application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) algorithms both at NASA and Georgia Tech. As Principal Research Scientist and Branch head of the Image Analysis and Visualization Branch at GTRI, he directed efforts at pattern recognition of multi-spectral image data and terrain analysis of the earth’s terrain. He was a co-founder of the Earth Resources Data Analysis Systems (ERDAS) company in 1978. He developed tools for the 3 dimensional visualization of geographic data (Georgia Tech
Virtual Geographic System – GTVGIS) and published papers along with the Georgia Tech College of Computing that provided a framework for current tools such as Google Earth and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

Mr. Faust currently teaches a graduate class in Remote Sensing in the Geographic Information Systems Technology (GIST) program within the School of City Planning in the Georgia Tech College of Architecture (Now College of Design). He sits on graduate thesis committees and works with students and faculty in the Center for GIS and across campus.

His current interests include the development and use of Remote Sensing and GIS tools for the analysis of habitat for the Critically Endangered Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda. He is analyzing 1-4 meter resolution multispectral imagery of the Virunga Volcano region on the border of these three countries to better define the location of food groups used by the gorillas and to determine the relationships between the available food and the distribution of the individual gorilla families in the protected regions in the common park. This will be compared to a landcover analysis that his group performed in 2005 using 30 meter resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper data. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) in 2008 and served as Board Chair for 2013 and 2014. The Center for GIS at Georgia Tech is assisting in the time series visualization of the second longest archive of animal behavior information with a GIS context.
Presentation:

This talk will discuss the background strengths of Georgia Tech in Remote Sensing, GIS, and Visualization and how these strengths led to a 17 year international collaboration between Georgia Tech CGIS and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI). The last remaining habitat for the critically endangered Mountain Gorilla is 2 small areas within Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda. The Virunga volcanos region (approximately 1000 square kilometers) is located on the western Great Rift Valley in central Africa. Dian Fossey initiated the study of behavior patterns of the Mountain Gorilla in 1967. The principal DFGFI focus is: “Helping people. Saving gorillas”. The organization is dedicated to research on the mountain gorilla and studying and assisting in the close inter-relationship between the mountain gorilla and the people who live in proximity to the 3 national parks that comprise the habitat. Georgia Tech’s collaboration is based on assistance and analysis of geospatial data and visualization of the extensive archive of time series behavioral data to help understand and protect the mountain gorilla.

Reserve your spot at: https://www.gaurisa.org

Map Competition for Georgia Students

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…and from Georgia URISA:

Hello Students!

Announcing our

“Online Map Competition”

This map competition it is an opportunity for Georgia University/College students to share their best maps with others who appreciate quality cartography, innovation and finally get recognition for their talents.

This is an online competition.  All maps/poster and links need to be submitted by midnight of May 10thto  urisaonlinemapcompetition@gmail.com with a minimum half a page statement that provides context of the submission, i.e. its purpose, how it may be used, how it was created etc…, and a cover page that will include:

  • Student information, including name, address, phone number, email address.
  • Degree program (e.g., M.A.), cartography/GIS instructor’s name.
  • Graduation Date
  • Institutional affiliation

Maps will be judged based on the following:

  • Standard Map Elements: Title, legend, scale etc: 15 points
  • Balance and Layout: Does map appear well-balanced to the eye? Are some areas of the map blank while other areas are crowded: 10 points
  • Drafting Technical Quality: Technical involvement; difficulties: 20 points
  • Detail Thoroughness: Is there too little detail? Is there too much detail? Does it extend into every passage? Is it consistent throughout the entire map? Is the detail easy to understand or is it confusing? Does the detail match the legend or the list of symbols? What would be the use of the map? Does the map show the purpose: 15 points
  • Visual Impact: Does the cartography make the subject interesting or boring? Overall, does the map look good: 20 points
  • Innovations, new methods which enhance the understanding of the map: 20 points

 100 points is a maximum that student can acquire based on above requirements.

First, second and third place will receive a prize. Prizes to be announced soon! The rest of the participants will get recognition in the URISA newsletter and “swag.” 

Maps need to be submitted by Midnight of May 10th to urisaonlinemapcompetition@gmail.com, confirmation email will be an indication of the submission.

Georgia URISA Luncheon – February 2016

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Date: Tuesday February 9th 2016
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Technical Campus
1255 South Loop Road
College Park, GA 30337

“Geospatial Services At The World’s Busiest Airport”

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest passenger airport, serving an average of 270,000 travelers every day. To help ensure the safety and efficiency of airport operations H-JAIA makes extensive use of geospatial services provided by the H-JAIA GIS Group. Part of the airport’s Planning & Development division, the GIS Group is responsible for mapping all airport property, infrastructure and utilities, developing and maintaining the airport’s GIS data in compliance with FAA regulations, supporting the airport’s planning and design activities, and providing unique solutions to problems or issues best addressed using geospatial analysis. The GIS Group was an early adopter of web-based GIS tools and has moved aggressively into implement the concept of ‘any map, on any device, at any time, at any location’. In 2016 the GIS Group will begin moving into the realm of 3D analysis utilizing BIM and photogrammetrically developed 3D models – bringing true 3D geospatial analysis to our airport workforce. Our presentation will provide an overview of the unique geospatial challenges faced while serving the broad spectrum of customers here at the airport and will include discussions about our efforts to move into the realm of 3D spatial analysis.

Presenter: David Wright & Brian Haren

David Wright has 20 years GIS experience with local, regional, and state governmental agencies developing geospatial information, integrating business data into GIS, and managing technical implementations of web-based GIS solutions. Graduating with a BS in Management Information Systems – Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1999, he began his geospatial career as a GIS Technician at the Clark County GIS Management Office responsible for development and maintenance of the County’s Street Center Line GIS dataset. From there his career progressed to the County’s Regional Flood Control District as a GIS Analyst managing flood zone data and developing GIS mapping applications. Then, on to the Georgia Department of Transportation as a GIS Systems Administrator leading GIS web-based application development and integrating the Department’s transportation data into user systems. Spending a short time with the Atlanta Regional Commission as a Principal Information Technology Analyst managing web-based financial information systems, David landed at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2007 where he serves as the GIS Program Manager, propelling the Atlanta Airport GIS team as recognized world leaders in Aviation GIS, earning the ESRI Special Achievement in GIS award in 2007 and becoming Plenary presenters at the ESRI 2015 International User Conference.

Brian Haren currently serves as the Senior GIS Program Coordinator for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Brian has over 30 years in the geospatial field, starting in 1982 as a topographic engineer and survey program manager with the Army Corps of Engineers. Brian has worked on geospatially focused projects around the world and across the United States, including geospatial-based environmental analysis in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq, Panama Canal Treaty property remediation and deforestation impact analysis, minefield clearance mapping in Bosnia-Herzegovina, base camp master planning in Afghanistan and Iraq and endangered species mapping at military installations in North Carolina, Washington State and Texas. At H-JAIA Brian is responsible for managing the utilities mapping, survey services and aerial imagery programs, and is the point person for web-based geospatial services delivery. Brian holds a BA in Geology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.